Four Tips That Will Make You A Better Communicator

If you have ever delivered a speech in a personal, professional, or competitive arena, you’ve probably asked yourself this question: what separates a good communicator from a great one? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the fundamentals of communication! You can have the best content in the world, but it’s wasted if you communicate it ineffectively to a live audience. If you want to know how to better present yourself to any audience,  here are four tips that will elevate your speaking.

Remember to speak slowly and enunciate

When speaking, you want to be as clear as glass: precise and concise. You want your audience to understand every single word that is coming out of your mouth because you believe that your content is of utmost importance. Therefore, speak slowly. This prevents you from stumbling over your own words. Personally, I have been a victim of speaking fast while using complicated vernacular. I learned this lesson the hard way, even to the point of losing entire debate rounds and having my speech ranks lowered because judges couldn’t understand what I was saying. From first-hand experience, I can confidently tell you that speaking slowly is a bare necessity in the public speaking arena. However, talking slowly doesn’t just help your audience understand you, but also portrays confidence. A fast speaker is typically a nervous one, and our goal in communicating is speaking with grace and poise. This also goes hand in hand with enunciating. You could be speaking slowly, but if you're mumbling and not pronouncing your words correctly, then the only thing your audience hears is slow mumbo jumbo.

Use nonverbal communication

Don’t just stand there with your hands in your pockets while speaking in a monotone voice! Engage with your body! You can communicate… without even talking. The three most basic rules in presentation are:

 Proper posture 

Posture matters. In a world where effective presentation is based on aesthetic, posture matters. It communicates confidence, makes you better looking, and separates you from the pack. Roll your shoulders back and stand broad while holding your chest out. Keep your hands at the side of your body (we’ll talk about this more in the next point) and stand tall, with your chin high, your back straight, and feet planted shoulder-width apart. These small and proper differences change the game and before you even start speaking, you have already communicated confidence. If you’re having a little trouble remembering this, just follow the famous words of Mushu in Disney’s Mulan, as he trains Mulan to walk into military camp as a strong, independent “man”: “Shoulders back, chest high, feet apart, head up, STRUT”

Engaging hand gestures

Always. And I mean always. Keep. Your. Hands. Out. Of. Your. Pockets. The goal is never to have your hands in one place during the entirety of the speech. Use hand gestures and movements to portray ideas and keywords that you want ingrained in the minds of your audience. Some examples, to start off, is every time you enumerate, hold up your fingers to the respective point you’re engaging with. If you’re talking about a vital point in your speech, you can move your hands in a fist to subconsciously say “this point is important”. There are no right ways to do hand gestures. Simply do what is most natural to you so you feel in your element. Just keep your hands out of your pockets.

Movement on stage

Use the room to walk around and move your audience’s attention with each and every point. The method I personally found most successful, is only moving in between points. For example, If I’m delivering a speech with two points, I would begin my speech at the center of the stage, then move to the left of the stage once I deliver my first point, then walk slowly to the right of the stage during my second point, and step back to the middle of the stage for my conclusion. The goal of movement is to keep your audience engaged. Be different. Don’t stand in one place, and place physical markers that your audience can follow 

Use eye contact 

Imagine you’re watching a speech and the speaker is incredibly dynamic. He’s pacing around the room, moving his hands, enunciating clearly, and passionate. However, he never makes eye contact. He stares at the stage or the back wall but never the audience. The audience would rightfully feel disconnected from the speaker!  Eye contact with your audience shows that you are invested in delivering your message directly to the audience. You care about the audience members. Deliberately make eye contact with an audience member for at least a few seconds and then move on to another audience member. Avoid looking at the ceiling, back wall, or stage. It can feel awkward but don’t be scared to commit and lock-in. The audience will connect with your message if you’re willing to connect with them! 

Smile 

Trust me. I know this feels so awkward at first, but a smile goes a really long way when you’re speaking. To your audience, a smile makes you more attractive, helps you make a better impression, and makes you more confident! Remember, you want to control and dominate the room and there’s no better way to do that than with a positive image! All of the greatest public speakers I know all smile right before they begin speaking and smile while delivering their message! It never hurts to smile, even during a speech. So show those pearly whites with pride!

Communication is fundamental. When you are speaking, you become the presentation. The greatest ideas and thoughts are useless if they cannot be communicated to the world. That’s the simple truth of speaking. Learning how to speak better will enable you to share your content with a target audience with true precision.  Remember, great ideas aren't worth anything if you can't communicate them. Plus, this great knowledge about speaking is worthless if you don't apply it. So practice it!

Here are some ways to practice with this newfound information:

The Carrot Exercise

This exercise is designed to help you practice enunciation, so warm up those facial muscles! Grab a script of your speech and a small, bite-sized carrot or pencil. Stand in front of a mirror where you can clearly see your entire face. Place the carrot in between your teeth ever so carefully as if you are simply holding it in place and not biting down on it. Now, deliver your speech slowly in this position. The goal of this exercise is to be able to understand what you're saying even with a carrot in your mouth. 

Deliver a speech and record it

Grab a camera and prop it up while you deliver your speech. Deliver your speech as you normally would and make sure you're recording it in its entirety. Afterwards, watch the video and try to find areas of critique that need constructive criticism. Maybe there was an area in your speech where you can use more hand gestures. Maybe you stood there awkwardly and needed to fill in some movement. Maybe you lacked eye contact. Whatever the issue is, you can see what flaws you have and personally find better ways to execute it. You can script your inflection and choreograph your movements. The sky's the limit, so use it to its greatest potential.

Have your friends and family watch you speak

Remember, when you're speaking, you’re speaking for an audience. So what better way to understand what an audience thinks than to get an audience? While delivering your speech, think of how you want to communicate your message and adapt your inflection and movements to those ideas. Afterwards, you have the ability to ask what your audience thinks and they can provide very meaningful and informative criticism that will bring you one step closer to becoming the best communicator you can be.

Don’t be afraid to try new things that feel awkward! Venture out and practice them so that they feel natural to you! The whole goal of communication is to effectively share a message with poise and confidence. For beginning speakers, I urge you to practice these skills for the first time. And for advanced students? Use these tips further to make sure you get to the next level of communication. All these tips are here to provide ways you can appear that way! But the only way to become a better communicator is to apply all these tips into practice.